Star Wars: The Last Command v. 3 (Star Wars)

Bantam Books Ltd Number of pages: 419

RRP: £6.99
The war against Thrawn reaches it's surprising conclusion.
Review date: 2004-11-04 Rating: 10 out of 10


Five years after 'Return of the Jedi', Grand Admiral Thrawn desires to draw the New Republic into a decisive battle. To that end he launches cloaked asteroids into Coruscant's orbit and the New Republic have no choice but to attempt the theft of an Imperial anti-cloak device. Meanwhile, Han, Luke, Leia, Lando, Chewie and Mara undertake a mission to destroy Thrawn's cloning facility on Wayland. However, the insane Jedi Joruus C'baoth awaits them avidly.

This book has all of the great elements of the previous two, dramatic action, subtle military strategy, political tension and extensive character development. The climatic Battle of Bilbringi is an unmissable Star Wars moment, recalling elements of the Emperor's 'surprise' in 'Return of the Jedi'. My favourite part of this book is where the New Republic's heroes defy their government to break Mara out of imprisonment, an act of faith in her that causes some dramatic development of her character. The confrontation in the Mount Tantiss throne room also brilliantly captures the atmosphere of 'RotJ', but with C'baoth's minion proving to be a welcome surprise (I won't give away details, but it's one of the best handlings of this sort of thing happening to a main character that I've read).

Thrawn's end, although entirely fitting, was somewhat abrupt and the otherwise excellent battle scene therefore also ended too abruptly.